A common method for decorating the underside portion of a skateboard deck is screen-printing. Typically, skateboards are decorated with a screen print covering the entire underside of a deck, which is referred to as "a full pass". On top of the full pass are applied consecutive prints of different colors and patterns. This screen-printing process requires that the ink must cure before the consecutive prints can be applied. After each print, the deck is removed from a screen press and placed in a drying rack.
A particular deck, commonly known as a short board, is manufactured using plywood laminates. The laminates are formed in a molded press into a shape comprised of three basic sections, which are the nose, tail, and mid-sections. The mid-section is relatively flat but the nose and tail sections are bent at a 12-degree angle. An irregular shaped printing screen is necessary to compensate for these two angles. The curvature of the screen must closely follow the contour of the skateboard in order to successfully print. There are many complications and drawbacks that occur as a result of using curved screens. Since curved screens are not commercially available, screens must be fabricated in house. Preparing a curved screen for printing is more difficult than preparing standard flat screens because of the curvatures. A common problem with curved screens is that fabric tension is difficult to maintain when the screen has straight and curved sections. Poor fabric tension results in inferior print quality and registration. Another problem is that decks come in different sizes and shapes, which further adds to the complexity of printing. Separate screen shapes are necessary for different deck shapes.
By far the most popular skateboard shape is the short board. The short board is fabricated in a molded fashion, which includes a concave shaped mid-section with a bent nose and tail section. Screen-printing this shape by hand requires that the printer must adjust the squeegee through three different angles to complete a full pass. In addition, the printer must push down on both ends of the squeegee rubber to compensate for the concave mid-section. The pushing down on the squeegee rubber ends results in the screen mesh stretching to the immediate shape of the squeegee. The squeegee rubber becomes thereby curved. This type of hand printing requires a skill and is very tiring.
Another drawback of hand printing short boards is that ink smears around the edges of the deck making the quality of the print diminished. The smeared ink is left to dry and is scraped off at a later time using a scraping tool. This phenomena is known as "scrapping the decks". Scrapping adds considerable time and cost to the printing process.